Saskatoon city hall is now focused on how to improve safety for cyclists, instead of whether such measures represent irresponsible spending.
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Cycling safety remains controversial in Saskatoon.
But the debate has shifted radically, from whether or not city hall should bother trying to improve safety for a perceived fringe group of urban elitists, to how to make the streets safer.
Tragically, this shift took place in the wake of the death of a 33-year-old mother of two, who was killed in a collision with a cement truck in front of her kids at the city’s busiest intersection for cyclists last May.
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Natasha Fox was killed at the intersection of Wiggins Avenue and College Drive, where cyclists account for 25 per cent of all traffic, according to the city. Wiggins was once considered for a bike lane pilot project, but that never transpired.
Given how many cyclists use this intersection — myself included — the lack of any safety measures is truly astonishing. That will soon change after a controversial decision made this week by city council.
City hall contracted the engineering firm CITA+ to conduct a safety audit of the intersection and the report came back with 14 recommendations. City hall administration supported 11 of these.
Transportation director Jay Magus explained why city bureaucrats rejected one recommendation advocating for restricting right turns on red lights from Wiggins onto College and adding a painted bike lane and a bike box, a painted space at the intersection where cyclists can stop in front of motor vehicles.
Magus speculated the right-turn-on-red restriction could be ignored by drivers and the bike lane and bike box would create a false sense of security and would be invisible when covered with snow. He argued those measures could decrease safety.
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But, in the wake of emotional presentations by Natasha Fox’s husband, Tod, and Jim Arnold, speaking on behalf of the Saskatoon Cycles advocacy group, council adopted them in spite of Magus’s reservations.
Arnold blasted the city report as suggesting nothing be done, using words like “astonished, flabbergasted, angry and upset.” Arnold said he cycled through the intersection twice a day for 30 years and barely escaped serious injury in one collision with a vehicle.
He noted the estimated cost of the painted bike box and bike lane is just $25,000, according to the consultants (although Magus suggested the cost could be twice that).
Fox further pointed out that the cost breaks down to about nine cents for every Saskatoon resident.
“The community believes a life is worth more than a dime,” Fox said, urging council to adopt the expert advice city hall paid for.
Fox and Arnold made it difficult to oppose these measures. Coun. Darren Hill, in proposing the vote on the contentious recommendations, pointed to an existing right-turn-on-red prohibition in his ward at Avenue D and 33rd Street.
Whether these measures will actually increase safety or save lives, like Natasha’s, remains debatable. A few councillors speaking in favour of the changes acknowledged their imperfection.
But at least the debate is focused on how to increase safety for cyclists, not whether it represents extravagant spending.
Options like adding protected bike lanes and changing Wiggins to a one-way heading north were rejected, due to inadequate space. That would have cost about $66,000.
The other measures adopted include altering curbs and changing pedestrian signals. Those will cost about $49,000.
But other factors also contributed to Natasha’s death. Tod is advocating for changes to regulations beyond city hall’s scope, since he believes the sight lines from the cab of the truck that struck her were inadequate.
And even if the changes approved by council increase safety at Wiggins and College, it’s just one intersection. SGI estimates about 50 cyclists are injured each year in collisions with vehicles in Saskatoon — and those are just the ones that cause at least $5,000 in damages.
The city is damned lucky we don’t see more cycling deaths than the two parents of young children killed in collisions last year.
Council may have made a decision based on emotion this week, but the conversation is finally moving in the right direction.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
ptank@postmedia.com
twitter.com/thinktankSK
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